author Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Independent gubernatorial candidate Tom Brokaw, broadcast journalist Kinky Friedman, Independent gubernatorial candidate Gregory Curtis, author and former editor of Texas Monthly Judith Ivey, actress Dorothy Bush Koch, presidential kin/author John Kerry, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and 2004 Democratic party nominee for president Lawrence Wright, author Gore Vidal, author Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education Pete Laney, former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize-winning physicist David Lynch, director Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Ray Suarez, broadcast journalist Tom Craddick, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives John Edwards, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Calvin Trillin, author Betty Buckley, actress Ted Nugent, musician Bob Schieffer, broadcast journalist Bill Bradley, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey Christopher Hitchens, author Michael Beschloss, historian Norman Pearlstine, former editor in chief of Time Inc. Season four Dan Rather, broadcast journalist Larry Faulkner, outgoing president of the University of Texas at Austin Mark Halperin, head of ABC News Political Unit Karen Olsson and Nate Blakeslee, authors/journalists Bruce Babbitt, former governor of Arizona and 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Wallace Jefferson, Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court Greg Abbott, Attorney General of Texas Maureen Dowd, columnist John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona John Cornyn, U.S. Senator from Texas Ralph Neas, head of People for the American Way Dick DeGuerin, attorney Louis Sachar, novelist Bill Powers, incoming president of the University of Texas at Austin Ana Marie Cox, blogger Frank Rich, columnist Doris Kearns Goodwin, historian Joe Biden, U.S. Senator from Delaware Salman Rushdie, novelist Elizabeth Crook, novelist Walter Cronkite, broadcast journalist Paul Begala, political strategist/broadcast journalist Stephen Harrigan, novelist Jack S. Blanton, philanthropist Jane Fonda, actress Kris Kristofferson, singer and actor Karenna Gore Schiff, author Dave Hickey, critic Season three Tom Craddick, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Joel Osteen, preacher Liz Carpenter, former presidential press secretary Matthew Dowd, political strategist Robert MacNeil, broadcast journalist Kinky Friedman, 2006 candidate for Texas governor John Shelby Spong, former Episcopal Bishop of Newark Jack Valenti, former LBJ aide/former head of the Motion Picture Association of America Lauren Bacall, actress Billy Joe Shaver, singer Al Franken, radio personality and author Ruth Reichl, editor of Gourmet magazine Anita Perry, first lady of Texas Liz Smith, gossip columnist Ronnie Earle, Travis County District Attorney Linda Ellerbee, broadcast journalist Isabel Allende, novelist Joaquin